More riding!

Monday afternoon was hot, it felt like a mean weather trick.  After days of beautiful weather that makes you want to skip and wear a jacket we had a day of 95 degree heat!  

Oh well, it was the day I had planned to go to the barn and I guess I'm no worse for the wear!  

I put Boomer in his surcingle and side reins and worked him in the round pen.  He was pretty amped up and was trumpet-snorting and doing his best impression of a saddle seat horse.  I made sure to adjust the side reins very gradually since he wasn't exactly paying attention.  Eventually he did settle down and got to work.  It was actually a very good session.  He did get pretty sweaty and I wasn't wearing a watch, so I can only guess he worked for about 45 minutes.  After we were done, I tossed the saddle on him and climbed up!  I just walked him to cool out and worked on keeping his neck longer and lower but not losing his jaw to the outside.  He responds well to a longer rein and easily fills out the space, but he was having a bit of trouble with cocking his head to the outside going right.  I made him overflex to the inside the whole time and I think it was hard for him,but he understood what I wanted.  He would start resistant, then relax, then get resistant again.  I tried to switch up the length of his neck when he would get resistant and that would help him keep from getting sore or tense.  I rode him for about 15 minutes and it felt really good.  

Its funny, the mental process I am going through to get my confidence back is very similar to when I was first breaking him.  First, I wanted to be led around.  Then I rode him only in the round pen.  After that I could ride in the open.  I have regressed back to that phase, I guess to solidify my confidence.  Boomer has done absolutely nothing to make me apprehensive.  I am so proud of him and really impressed by how much he has matured mentally in the past 2 years.  I also look forward to giving him a few months off and seeing how much he matures mentally in his 8-year-old year!  I think that Arabs can be a lot like warmbloods in that they mature slowly.  In my experience, they are physically mature at 5 and mentally around 8.  

Also, I have sold all of my tack except for my Toklat coolback pads.  Anyone interested?